


Surge

by DaiseeChain



Series: The Elementals [2]
Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-15
Updated: 2010-07-15
Packaged: 2017-11-01 18:39:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/360000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaiseeChain/pseuds/DaiseeChain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bella finds a purpose in life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Surge

**Author's Note:**

> **Written For:** Crucio giftbag  
>  **Element:** Water  
>  JKR’s timelines are notoriously difficult to decipher but I’ve done my best to make sure this fits cannon events. The story takes place sometime in the 1960s.

 

 

 

It was messy, smelly, and disgusting, which was why Bella hated fishing. She couldn’t see why they didn’t just set the staff to catching fish. What was the point of having staff if you couldn’t order them about?

But Father insisted, and Mother never argued with Father, so Bella waited, bored, while Father sunk a line in the ocean and waited for something called Swordfish to come by and obediently take the bait.

Father insisted the fresh air was good for her, but Bella preferred the secret library where he kept his special books - the ones he thought she didn’t know about. Cissy was probably in there even now. And that was another thing - why wasn’t Cissy forced to come on these awful trips? Why couldn’t Cissy be forced to come here and watch fish flop about? It wasn’t even as if fish screamed while they died, worthless things that they were.

 

“Quick! My little Bella, come quickly!”

She looked at Father, clad in his old Broom Squad flying jacket. Why on earth didn’t he get rid of that thing? The war had been over for years. When he called to her again she realised that whatever the problem was he wasn’t going to leave her be. Sighing heavily, Bella leisurely rose from her day bed, and ambled out into the sun on the deck. Casting a shadow charm to keep off the sun, she moved, face thunderous, like a small storm over to her father. “What is it now?” She managed to keep her voice just this side of insolence.

Even so her tone would usually have earned her a reprimand, and she looked at him quizically when he failed to respond. Father was staring wide-eyed out at the sea. Bella followed the direction of his gaze. There was nothing interesting out there; nothing but a big black cloud. Good. If a storm was about to hit the yacht he’d probably give up and take them home.

“Bella...”

The falter in Father’s usually confident voice gave her pause. She looked again and saw that the cloud was moving much faster than she had previously thought. “So we should cast a protection spell on the boat? Weather out the storm?” Although it did seem to be moving awfully fast...

Father sprang into action, startling her. He let go of his rod and it dropped over the side like a rock. That couldn’t be right. It was his favourite fishing rod. He’d never just let that go. Bella looked into the distance and suddenly saw what had Father worried so. It was on the wrong side of the horizon. The black squall should have been coming from the top - but it was coming from the sea. The azure sky was still clearly visible above a rising, rapidly approaching wall of what she now saw to be a supernatural wave.

Behind her she was dimly aware Father was rushing, sweeping charms over the equipment to hold it fast or pack it all away. He might be calling to her. She couldn’t be sure; she couldn’t hear him well over the pounding of blood in her own ears.

As the cliff of water drew closer she was forced to tilt her chin up to keep track of the crest. Back and back she moved her head, watching as the solid wall of water advanced relentlessly till it filled her entire vision. Then suddenly the churning foam crest was level with her head, seemingly hovering in front of her.

The yacht was flying. No longer in the water but above it, moving out of reach of the angry sea. Wind whipping her hair painfully round her head, Bella swallowed mouthfuls of sea spray as the yacht tumbled in the air currents. Knuckles white, she gripped the railing, feet scrabbling to keep purchase on the slippery decking. Snatches of Father’s voice drifted to her on the wild wind but she couldn’t care less. Laughter welled inside her and she let it loose, the sound lost in the deafening roar coming from below.

And then it was gone. Bella crashed painfully to the floor, wrenching her wrists. For a moment she thought she’d gone blind, but then realised it was just her drenched hair hanging over her face. She felt warm arms around her and heard Father murmuring soothing nonsense. She shrugged him off and stood up, looking in the direction the wave had travelled. There was nothing there. “What... what was that?” She had to force her voice out, and even then it was barely a whisper.

Father came and stood beside her. “Rogue wave,” he said, his voice quivering. “My grandfather used to tell me about them. I always believed he was telling tall tales. Obviously I was wrong.”

Bella laughed. Even to her ears it came out wrong; a sort of harsh, cackling noise, causing Father to look at her sharply. “Obviously,” she muttered and shook her head.

“Yes, well. I believe that’s enough fishing for today. Help me unstick these charms and we’ll head back home.”

Of course. Just when things got interesting. Trust Father to prefer the quiet life. Always the same routine, always the same house, the house their family had lived in for centuries, always the same boring group of people. The wave had shown her the way. All that power, all that destruction, and nothing and nobody could sway it. The best they could do was to get out of the way. That was the way to be, the way to make your mark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Bella, dearest, do come and meet some of our guests. You’re being very dreary, cooped up here in the corner.”

“Cissy, dearest,” Bella drawled, “You know very well I detest all these people. Duller than Flitwick, the lot of them.” She swirled her glass of poisonous Green-Fairy and gulped it back in one go. Then she hovered the glass, fired off a spell that caused it to burst into flames and watched the ashes flutter to the floor.

“Really, Bella. That was one of my best glasses.” Narcissa’s mouth thinned. Then she shook off her irritation. “Anyway, they’re not all that dull. Especially not Lucy’s new friend.”

Bella rolled her eyes. “Oh well then, if Lucy thinks he’s swell I’m certain he’ll be just a blast.” She looked down at the tugging on her arm to discover Cissy pulling at her sleeve.

“No really. I insist! You must come to meet him. I just know the two of you will hit it off.”

Bella gave in. Cissy wasn’t usually so insistent but when she was there was no stopping her. She didn’t get to see this side of her sister often enough, and tried to encourage it when she could. Cissy gave Lucius far too much control over her life.

Cissy towed Bella along in her wake and the throng in the ballroom parted to make way. Tedious sycophants all vying for position on her sister’s list of Acceptable People, every one of them was reliant on the Black family fortunes for their place in society. They made her stomach churn.

At last Cissy glided to a halt, the model of decorum and taste even when rushing, in front of a huddle of besuited ex-Hogwarts students. Bella recognised several of them, idiots all. Past their overly-pomaded heads, she could see the warm glints of the chandeliers shining on the ice-white hair of Cissy’s beloved ‘Lucy’, but next to him the light seemed to vanish as if into shadows.

The little boys pretending to be men moved aside to make room for Cissy and her diaphanous skirt, and Bella slunk through the gap after her.

“Bellatrix, allow me introduce our new friend.” Lucius nodded to her and then at his companion.

Bella shifted her attention to their newest lackey and found herself staring into the darkest eyes she’d ever seen.

The rest of the world paled in comparison. When he spoke she could hardly hear him through the thudding of blood in her ears. She hadn’t felt like this since the wave...

“Such a pleasure to meet you at last,” he said, taking her hand before she had offered. “My name is Tom. Tom Riddle.”


End file.
